Filmmaker pays tribute to tugs’ heroic role in World War II

Friday

Nov 7, 2008 at 2:00 AM

By Alicia Hull I&M Staff Writer

In honor of Veterans Day, award-winning documentary filmmaker Robin D. Williams will be on-island Tuesday for a screening of his new film, “Mayday! Tugs of War – Europe.” In 1958, Williams and 20 of his fellow classmates from Orange Coast College left California to explore Europe. When their ship was delayed upon their return from London, Williams and a few others decided to continue their journey, making their way through Scotland and on to Ireland. Weeks later, as they waited for their ship off the coast of Ireland, Williams noticed a boat – a tugboat – and his curiosity about the ship was born.

Fifty years later and with 20 completed films under his belt, Williams decided to take his interest in the tugboat to a new level, creating his most recent documentary.

“I realized I had to make the film and figure out their history,” said Williams, who will screen the film Tuesday at the Coffin School on Winter Street. “I remembered the sailor I spoke to in 1958 told me their were no photographers allowed on board, so I searched the archives at the Imperial War Museum in London where I have been doing most of my research for the past 50 years.”

The film is a depiction of the World War II lifesavers who have been largely overlooked in the history books. The Rescue Tug Service, a special wartime branch of the British Navy, was stationed in the Atlantic, and the main base located in Campbeltown, Great Britain. The tugboats accompanied convoys, rescuing the ships during attacks throughout the war. They saved thousands of lives and brought 254 warships safely back to port.

During a screening of the film in Hull, England, where many of the tugmen and their descendants continue to live, Williams met the men he had been researching for nearly 50 years.

“It was surreal,” he said. “I’ve been living their experiences through this film that I’ve put together and all of a sudden these real men are there and they’re the ones that went through that. If a ship was torpedoed, they would have to go to that ship and then they would put a man aboard in order to put the line around the bits of the ship that were burning. This whole time the ship could blow up at any moment. These men did this time and time again. It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever heard of.”

Williams is one of the top documentary filmmakers in the United States today. He has tracked Saint Paul’s journey through Asia, mapped the path of Lewis and Clark and traveled the route of Christopher Columbus. “Mayday! Tugs of War – Europe,” has continued his journey in unearthing history, but is considered by Williams to be his life’s work. The film has already won several awards, including best documentary at the Heart of England International Film Festival earlier this year.

In addition to answering questions following the completion of the film Tuesday, Williams will also be spending time at Nantucket High School the next day. There he will discuss historical documentaries as well as ancient and modern history, saying he will try to make the material interesting and exciting for the teenage students. Williams acknowledged his knack for making history fun was a skill inherited from a former teacher.

“He did it every day in the classroom and I watched him bring the ancient Romans to life,” said Williams. “I grew up learning how to do that and now I do it with my films.”

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